Can love survive a 15 year absence? It’s a question that has been explored in film, books, music and even current pop culture events (yes we’re looking at you Benifer), and there really is no easy answer. At first Lorelei looks to be the latest to explore the question, but it’s more then that. Much more.

After 15 years in prison for armed robbery Wayland (American Gods‘ Pablo Schreiber) is a free man. He carries a lot of pain on his shoulders though, and reintegrating into society is harder than he could have imaged. He isn’t alone however, and has several people willing to help him along. Some of them better influences than others. One of them is his former girlfriend Dolores (Goliath‘s Jena Malone), whose journey while he was on the inside wasn’t exactly as they had dreamed together. She’s a single mother of three children looking to continue their romance where they left off. The duo quickly discover however that the dreams they buried in the past when Wayland was arrested are harder to dig up than they’d like.

Lorelei is at its strongest when it explores the romance between Wayland and Dolores. Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone have a chemistry together that makes everything seem realer than it has any right to be. Schreiber plays his character as the tall, quiet, brooding type who seems to have learned his lesson. You can see the pain and fear behind his eyes at the same time as the love he holds for the family he suddenly finds himself inheriting. Malone on the other hand has a joyful exuberance hidden behind regret, lost dreams and pain. The duality of the leads is astonishing to watch, and it gives you a real sense of why they should be together. The movie starts to struggle however in the final beat when the pair are separated, and the story loses a bit of its logical path. Without spoiling anything, the plot induces a lot of head scratching and suspension of disbelief near the end.

For a first feature film writer/director Sabrina Doyle seems to be on the right track. With Lorelei she’s created a thoughtful and moving film that hits most of the right beats. As for the question posed at the start of this review, can love survive a 15 year absence? After watching this film it looks like it can, especially when family is at the heart of it.